
A LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



FARMERS' CONVENTION 



Held at Augusta, January, 1869, 



i;t 



• S. L. GOOD ALE, 

BECKETABT MAINE BOARD OF A G UICC LT It RE . 




Glass. 
Book. 






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% 1 V ^'^ 



COMMERCIAL MANURES. 

A LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

FARMERS' CONTENTION 

HELD AT AUGUSTA, JANUARY, 1869, 



S. L. GOODALE, 

SECRETARY MAINE BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 









^ » ^ 
Q:^^^ 



COMMERCIAL MANURES. 



The subject of commercial manures has been forcing itself upon 
the attention of the New England farmer for some years as one 
of steadily increasing importance. What has contributed to this 
more than any thing else, is the enhanced price of labor. In 
years gone by, when, with the help of his boys or with labor 
hired at $10 or $12 per month, and by using the manure of the 
farm-yard, he could get satisfactory crops, making both ends of 
the year meet, or perhaps finding a positive gain after the store 
bills and taxes were paid, in ready money or in betterments on the 
homestead, he gave little thought to the matter of far-fetched, 
artificial aids to fertilization. 

But times have changed ; values have changed ; boys generally 
do not love the farm as well as they did when he was young. If he 
wants labor now, he must put up with a poor quality at a dear rate. 
It is evident that the conditions of success have changed, and that 
some new path must be found or he will be left astern. He now 
hears that concentrated manures may be bought ; manures very 
unlike what he is accustomed to, but nevertheless able to bring 
good crops ; and cheap enough to yield him handsome profits. 
He sees that, if this is true he can yet prosper by using more manure 
in proportion to the amount of labor than he did formerly ; because 
sixty bushels of corn grown on one acre costs less than sixty 
bushels grown on two acres, by nearly the difierence of half the 
labor bestowed on the two acres ; and it is labor which he most 
needs to economise. He learns also that the price and the real 
value of these commercial manures do not uniformly correspond 
to each other ; that some are high priced and yet very cheap, and 
that some are lower priced and yet quite dear, and some are dear 
at any price. Many are at a loss whether to buy or not. 



LABOE DEARER THAN MANURE. 



Previoixs to my acceptance of the position yet occupied as 
Secretary of this Board, I had given the subject of Commercial 
Manures only cursory thought ; but the law defining the duties of 
the office, specified the investigation of such matters as pertained 
to the interests of agriculture ; and there was no room for doubt, 
that among these the subject of manures held a very prominent 
position. Its chemistry was a pleasant task, for I well remember, 
when a lad, that my favorite play-room was the laboratory, and 
that more pocket money went for chemicals and apparatus than for 
jack-knives and skates. 

Although I make no claim to having kept up with the rapid 
progress of chemical science during the intervening years, the 
endeavor has been made to keep within hailing distance, and on 
speaking terms. 

Latterly, some thought has been given to the subject of manures 
in the way of business ; and how that came to be I will relate. 

Sevei-al years ago, being applied to by some of our leading 
farmers about where and how to obtain a satisfactory concentrated 
manure, the suggestion was offered that they make it for them- 
selves ; a company being formed, and power, machinery and all 
needful facilities being obtained, so as to work to advantage. 
The suggestion, although not immediately, was not long afterward 
adopted ; and I have since served them as chemical director of the 
work. If an inferior article has ever been sent out by the Cum- 
berland Bone Company, the blame is mine ; for the only instructions 
ever given me were to make a very good article. I mention this 
business connection, in order that you may judge whether, and to 
what extent, partiality, or interest may find expression in the 
remarks submitted, and make allowance accordingly. 

While no purpose is entertained to employ the present occasion 
to advertise the wares of one or another manufacturer, it may be 
permitted to say, that very soon following the establishment of the 
works alluded to, the commercial manures sold in competition with 
what was there made, rapidly improved in agricultural value — in 



DEFICIENCIES OF SOILS. 



one instance, several hundred per cent. — so that, whether the estab- 
lishment was pecuniarily successful to those directly interested in 
it or not, the farming community has reaped immense benefit. 

Before speaking directly to the subject, it may be well to offer 
a few preliminary observations. And first. What do New England 
soils lack, which we need to buy ? 

Chemistry enables us to answer this question with a good degree 
of certainty. 

First, They lack Nitrogen in some combination from ivhich plants 
can get it. Four-fifths of the atmosphere consists of nitrogen, but 
uncombined ; and in this state plants cannot appropriate it to their 
use. It may be supplied by nitrates, or by ammonia, or by any 
substances which yield ammonia during their decomposition, like 
fish, flesh, &c. 

It is a curious fact, that those crops which at harvest time con- 
fain the greatest amount of nitrogen, like peas, beans, clover, &c. 
are also those which receive least benefit from its application ; 
while those containing less (like wheat, for instance) receive greater 
benefit from its use. The function of nitrogen seems rather to yield 
force, or to stimulate growth, than to supply plant food. 

Second, our soils lack potash in an available form. New Eng- 
land soils generally contain enough, but it is there as a silicate, in a 
combination so nearly insoluble that it is virtually locked up. It is 
liberated thence only by slow degrees ; by freezing and thawing, 
air and rain, especially by rain water, containing, as it does, a little 
carbonic acid.* 

The third want is phosphoric acid. All soils capable of pro- 
ducing crops contain more or less of this, but nearly all in so 
scanty measure that it is more frequently needed than any other ash 
constituent of plants ; and when present in insufficient quantity, 

plants make a feeble growth, are liable to many casualties which 

■ _ — __^ 

* Late investigations have shown that potash is liberated from its inso|jible connections 
by the agency of acid phosphate of lime, and to this fact, probably, is due a considerable 
degree of the surprising efiBcacy of a genuine Super Phosphate in not a few instances. 



DIRECT OR INDIRECT PURCHASE 



healthy and vigorous plants escape, and cattle fed upon the herbage 
of such land are subject to what is known as "bone disease." 

These three substances, Potash, Nitrogen, and Phosphoric acid, 
are the most important and the most expensive which the farmer 
has need to buy ; and all commercial fertilizers sold, whatever the 
name they bear, be it ground bone, guanos, of whatever name or 
kind, phosphates, or super-phosphates, or "pei-fect manures," or 
whatever else, which are really worth more than half a cent per 
pound, owe their value mainly to the presence of one or more of 
these substances. 

An interesting question relative to means of fertilization is, 
whether it be the better policy for the farmer to buy manures 
directly or indirectly ; that is to say, whether to buy commercial 
fertilizers, or commercial articles of cattle food, to be converted 
partly into meat or dairy products, and partly into manure. It is 
too broad a subject for discussion here, but it deserves more con- 
sideration than it receives. The true answer I believe would vary 
with circumstances, sometimes one and sometimes the other, and 
it should be the business of each farmer to ascertain which would 
be best for him. 

The term " Commercial Manures " may be understood as em- 
bracing all those manurial substances which are usually purchased 
by the farmer, in distinction from those usually obtained from his 
own resources. 

I do not propose to treat of them all in detail, but only to touch 
briefly upon the leading features of the more prominent among 
them ; — and the first I will mention is Lime. 

On some soils lime is useless or even injurious, but on others it 
may be used to great advantage, and it might be profitably used to 
far greater extent than it is. 

It has happened with lime as it has with many other things in 
this world of oufs ; after having been extolled above their merit, 
they sink in estimation as far below their true value. The truth 
is, that lime is a special manure, and by no means a general one. 



USES OP LIME. GYPSUM. 



Some things it can do with great advantage, and others it cannot 
do, but if attempted, perhaps harm instead. To a very limited 
extent lime may be usefully applied to furnish plant food — but 
ordinarily, soils contain enough for this purpose. 

The chief office of lime seems to be that of an alterative. When 
applied to stiff clays, and to some soils neither clayey nor stiff, 
but rather mossy and wet and indolent ; in a condition resembling, 
as near as anything, the chronic shiftlessness of some people we 
occasionally meet; — upon all such soils lime frequently causes 
highly beneficial changes, partly chemical, and these only partially 
understood ; partly mechanical, but certainly beneficial ; thus 
stiff clays are rendered more friable, and wet lands are made 
drier, as well as unproductive lands more fertile. Increase of 
fertility, by means of the use of lime, is probably as often due to 
its action in liberating potash from its insoluble combination with 
silica in the soil, as to any other effect of its application. 

Lime is also usefully employed as an ingredent in composts of 
peat and muck, since it promotes the decay of vegetable fibre, and 
the destruction of certain harmful compounds of iron not un- 
frequently met with in mucky deposits. 

The next I mention, is Gypsum ; — Plaster of Paris, — or, as the 
chemists call it. Sulphate of Lime. On some soils this is a very 
efficient manure and the cheapest to be had. On other soils it is 
useless, and its price, whatever that may be, is thrown away. 
How it operates, — whether by furnishing plant food directly, or 
indirectly, or in whatever way inducing fertilizing results, nobody 
fully knows. There are plenty of guesses about its mode of 
operation, and some actual knowledge, but I am not aware that 
the numerous researches directed to this point, have resulted 
in satisfactory conclusions. If you would know — each for your- 
self — whether it will pay for you to use it — my advice is, that you 
submit the question to the only party who will give you an answer 
to be depended upon, — and I pledge my word that you will not be 
charged an extravagant fee for the opinion. Lay the case before 



8 HOW TO REDUCE BONES. 



your own soils, and your own crops. Put some gypsum on your 
land and then put on the crops, and in autumn listen for the 
answer. You need not use much ; — half a dozen quarts, on as 
many different square rods, in various parts of your farm, will 
give as distinct replies, as would the same number of tons on as 
many ten acre lots. 

There are wide breadths of land where gypsum will cause an 
abundant growth of cZouer; — and with clover you can so manure 
land as to produce good crops of corn, or wheat, or grass. If you 
have such land, be sure not to stint the application of gypsum and 
clover seed. 

Bones. The value of these depend largely on the phosphoric 
acid they contain, and which amounts on an average to twenty- 
three per cent., or nearly a fourth part of their weight. It exists 
mostly in combination with lime, (as tribasic phosphate), a very 
little also with magnesia. Besides this earthy phosphate, bones 
have animal matter containing nitrogen, enough to yield five to six 
per cent, of their weight of ammonia upon decomposition. Bones, 
for the most part, are very tough, and require powerful machinery 
to reduce them to fineness. This is necessary if we desire early 
returns from their application, for a bit of hard bone weighing a 
quarter of an ounce will last ten or twenty years in the soil, before 
being fully decayed. 

The phosphate in bones is of the kind usually called insoluble 
(i. e. tribasic), but it exists in particles so very minute as to be 
invisible, singly, to the naked eye. These are glued each to its 
neighbors by the animal matter. As the animal matter decays in 
the ground the molecules of phosphate fall apart, and so extremely 
fine are they as to be slowly yet suflBciently soluble. Hence it is, 
that bone dust can often be used to advantage without being first 
treated with acid. 

Some farmers are beyond reach of a bone mill. Such may, if 
they will, utilize bones in the following manner : Break them as 
small as possible, at odd jobs and leisure times ; mix with un- 



PERUVIAN GUANO. 



leached ashes, and wet the mass. If possible, warm it also, which 
is easiest done by the heat of fermenting dung. The combined 
action of heat, moisture and caustic alkali causes the animal 
mtitter to give way, and the atoms of phosphate fall Kp=ii fc in a 
state of such extreme division, as to be, for practical purposes, 
almost as useful as if made into superphosphate. 

The difference between a bone manure thus prepared, and a 
" Super Phosphate" (properly so called) is, that in the latter the 
phosphate is rendered " soluble" by a chemical change in its pro- 
portions, effected by means of acid ; while in the former there is 
simply a physical subdivision effected by means of a chemical 
action which decomposes the cement which holds together the 
extremely minute molecules of phosphate in the bone. To give 
some idea of the extent of this subdivision let me say, that, were 
a cubic inch of bone divided into a million of little cubes, (each 
measuring the one-hundredth of an inch on either side) every one 
of them would be more than a thousand times larger than the par- 
ticles as they exist in bone. Now, because the degree of solubility 
of substances difficult of solution is greatly enhanced by being 
made fine, you can readily see why I stated that bone thus treated 
was nearly as useful as if made into superphosphate. 

. The next commercial fertilizer which I mention, is Peruvian 
guano. This, as formerly imported, contained from 15 to 11 per 
cent, of ammonia, but latterly from 11 to 13 per cent. The high 
price it bears is chiefly due to this content ; for of all the manurial 
agents which the farmer has occasion to buy, the dearest is nitrogen 
in such form or combination that plants can appropriate it to their 
use. Peruvian guano contains a small percentage of potash; also 
about one half as much phosphate as raw bone ; but as before 
remarked, its chief commercial value is due to its nitrogen. 

Like other ammoniacal manui-es, its principal use is for grain and 
grass crops ; and the chief profit from its use is realized upon lands 
rich in mineral constituents. 

Peruvian guano cannot be continuously used and the crops sold 



10 FISH GUANO. 



off, without rapid impoverishment of the land, except upon soils rich 
in dormant mineral resources. A considerable portion of the land 
in the Southern States is of this character, and hence the high 
repute in which Peruvian guano continues to be held there. 

But to use it with impunity in New England, it is imperatively 
necessary, that the bulk of all which is grown by it should be con- 
sumed upon the farm and returned to the soil in manure. 

For general use among us, it is found that the proportions of 
ammonia and the phosphates in Peruvian guano, are not those 
which may be employed to advantage. There is too much of the 
former in proportion to the amount of the latter. 

It is found that a manure containing more phosphate and less 
ammonia is safer, and better to use, and cheaper to buy ; and 
this experience, coupled with the fact that we have in fish guano, 
or porgy chum, so largely produced along our coast line, abun- 
dant supplies of a manure nearly identical in character and results, 
with Peruvian guano, — has caused an almost total abandonment 
of its use in this section. It is true that our fish guano is "of less 
uniform quality and less concentrated, but its cheapness makes 
amends for the difference. 

It is much to be regretted that so large a proportion of the fish 
refuse is not better cured, so as to retain the manurial efficacy 
which it has while fresh. Within the last ten years, however, 
there has been a vast improvement in this respect, and yet there 
is need of a great deal more. When well dried immediately iqwn 
coming from the press, fish guano may be deemed to be one-half 
as valuable as Peruvian guano ; otherwise one-third to one-tenth. 

I come now to the consideration of Super-Phosphates, of which 
probably a larger amount is used in New England than of any 
other concentrated manure. 

What is commercially known as a "Super-phosphate," is a concen- 
trated compost manure, containing a considerable proportion of solu- 
ble phosphoric acid, together with a portion more or less insoluble, 
and usually a quantity of nitrogenous matter or of ammoniacal salts. 



COMMERCIALLY, NOT CHEMICALLY PURE. 



11 



It ought to contain as large a proportion of phosphoric acid in a 
condition available to plants, as it can be made to contain and yet 
be sold at a price admitting its profitable use in agriculture. It is 
not expected to be a chemicall}'- pure soluble phosphate, for this 
would place its cost far beyond the possibility of economical use. 
Go to a chemist and inquire the price of potash. You can find it 
good enough for surgical use for about one dollar per pound, but 
for chemically pure the charge will be much higher. It is clear 
that no one will buy at such prices to put on land, or to make 
soap with, when he can obtain the same quantity in commercial 
potash, mingled with some impurities, but good enough for the use 
required, for a dime or two. 

So too, if he asks the price of the purest phosphoric acid in the 
market, he will find it about three dollars per pound, but he can 
buy the same quantity in several pounds of a good superphosphate 
for a quarter of one dollar, and possibly for rather less. 

To be commercially pure, a superphosphate should be made iviih 
skill, from good materials, and with no additions made to cheapen its 
cost, thereby reducing its quality. 

To be entitled a really ^oocZ article, it should contain not less than 
thirty per cent, of phosphates, and about one half this amount in 
a condition to be dissolved at once, and the other half as fast as it 
may be required by the plants. Suqh an article manufactured on 
a large scale can be afforded at the present time for about three 
cents per pound, at wholesale. At this price, and also with the 
additional cost of a pretty long transportation, it will, in a great 
majority of cases, where judiciously y^ed, pay a large profit, both 
in increased quantity, better quality, and earlier maturity of the 
crops grown. 

The aim, of the manufacturer ought to be, to give the largest 
amount possible of fertilizing constituents, in the hest relative pro- 
portions to each other, at the smallest cost. Whether all do so is 
quite another matter. 

Let me here offer a word regarding the chemistry of the manu- 



12 CHEMISTRY OF SUPERPHOSPHATES. 

facture of superphosphates. What is commonly called phosphate 
of lime — or as chemists term it, tribasic phosphate of lime, or more 
recently, tricalcic phosphate, — is a combination of three equiva- 
itints of lime with one of phospiiurlo acid, hence the name 
"tribasic," — three of base with one of acid. This is the form in 
which it commonly occurs in nature. It dissolves in water very 
slowly and with diflSculty, and hence is called insoluble. To con- 
vert this into soluble phosphate, or as known to chemists, mono- 
phosphate of lime, or monocalcic phosphate, it is needful to take 
away from tribasic phosphate two of its three equivalents of base, 
(that is to say, of lime,) leaving one of lime in combination with 
one of phosphoric acid. Combined in this proportion it is very 
easily soluble. Indeed, if made dry, by artificial means, it has 
such an attraction for water that it will take it from the air and 
become wet again. This change from a tribasic to a monobasic 
phosphate, or from insoluble to soluble, is effected by the agency 
of sulphuric acid, which has a stronger affinity for lime than phos- 
phoric acid has, and so the sulphuric acid takes away lime and 
combines with it, forming sulphate of lime, which is the same 
thing as gypsum. We do not put sulphuric acid with tricalcic 
phosphate for the sake of making gypsum. By no means ; for 
we can get enough of this ready made from sources in nature 
cheaper than we can make it. . But we do it for the sake of the 
other result, viz., the conversion of insoluble phosphate to soluble. 
Thus you see that when only pure tricalcic phosphate and sul- 
phuric acid are put together you have a mixed result, a compost, 
consisting of soluble phosph§te of lime and sulphate of lime. Still 
more is the product a compost if bone is used in place of phos- 
phate of lime alone ; for only half of bone is phosphate — the rest 
being chiefly animal matter. This animal matter, while decom- 
posing in the soil, yields ammonia from the nitrogen it contains, 
and this is as far as possible from being an objection, for we find 
that a superphosphate, the value of which consists solely in its 
phosphoric acid, is only a special manure, and fitted for certain 



UNDER VARIOUS NAMES, 



13 



crops, as turnips, peas, clover, &c., and for soils particularly des- 
titute of this substance. But let it contain also a fair proportion 
of ammonia, or of nitrogen in any form useful to plants, and it is 
adapted to many crops — Indian corn, grains generally, and vegeta- 
bles generally, and to a great majority of soils. In other words, 
it is no longer a special but more nearly a general manure. You 
see also, that the term " Superphosphate" is a commercial and 
not a chemical term. Formerly chemists used the term super- 
phosphate to indicate the salt now known as monophosphate, but 
it is obsolete at present and only retained in commerce. It is 
equally shown that a superphosphate is, and necessarily must be, 
a compost, and one the value qfivhich depends loholly upon the skill 
and fidelity with which suitable materials are combined in suitable 
proportions. 

Many commercial manures sold under other names are simply 
superphosphates, such as "Ammoniated Guano," " Soluble Pacific 
Guano," " Phospho Guano," and many others. The change of 
title is probably due to the odium attached to the word superphos- 
phate in the minds of many, and this in its turn is due to the vast 
amounts of trash which have been palmed off for Superphosphate. 

The first general remark offered regarding the use of commercial 
manures is, that I would never recommend their substitution in 
place of farm-yard manures, nor in place of any manurial resources 
which can be procured at home. 

The first business of every farmer should be to secure ways and 
means to preserve fully all the excreta of his cattle, liquid and 
solid ; — ^and I would here remark, that thie liquid portions are rarely 
sufficiently thought of. For, where some kinds of food are em- 
ployed, as clover hay for example, or cotton-seed cake, the value 
of the liquid far exceeds that of the solid portions. 

I would have him by the employment of dry earth, daily applied, 
preserve fully the manurial value of the excreta of his family ; — 
and this is a resource, the importance of which to the farmer is 
vastly greater than is commonly supposed. There are whole 



14 NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR FARM MANURE. 

nations of the most successful agriculturists on the face of the 
earth, who depend almost wholly upon this alone. We may well 
profit by their example in economy ; and in doing- so, reap a double 
advantage, — not only make large gains, but avoid a too frequent 
nuisance. In a word, I would have every home resource laid under 
contribution and taxed to its utmost, (within the limits of economy) 
before he turned to any outside resources whatever. 

I said I would never recommend the substitution of commercial 
fertilizers in place of the home supply. I would no more do so than 
I would recommend the substitution of commercial illuminators in 
place of sunlight, — and I would not do this for two reasons ; first, 
the sunlight is better, and, second, it is cheaper. Nevertheless, 
there are times and places where sunlight is not to be had, and 
people who pay money for commercial illuminators usually believe 
that "they get their money's worth, and this, too, in spite of fraud, 
which manifests itself in the fact that gas sometimes lacks illu- 
minating power, and is sometimes loaded yvith noxious vapors, 
offensive to the senses and deleterious to health ; and in spite too, 
of the fact that petroleum oils occasionally explode in the hands of 
those who use them and burn deeper than barely to make a hole 
through their pockets. 

Notwithstanding all the drawbacks which exist to the use of 
commercial illuminators, they are extensively used. Their manu- 
facture is a respectable business, and for aught I know, a lucrative 
business. On the whole, taking all their merits and demerits into 
consideration, they who buy and use are content to buy and use 
again ; and I venture to predict that this will continue to be the 
case for a long time to come. 

It is not to be denied that there has been, and is still, a great 
deal of cheating in connection with the manufacture and sale of 
commercial fertilizers. It is a business which furnishes great 
facilities for fraud, and dishonest men take advantage of them. 
This is chiefly due to the fact that the color, smell and general 
appearance of the article sold furnish no trustworthy indication of 



SECURITY AGAINST FRAUD. 



15 



its real value. This can only be determined by a careful and 
somewhat costly chemical analysis, or by full trial in the field, 
upon various soils and crops and in different seasons. But there 
is nothing to prevent honest and capable men from manufacturing 
and selling a good article at a fair price. 

The question is so frequently asked, what security can we have 
against fraud ? that I may be allowed to offer a few hints. The 
popular demand, if judged by the echoes of the agricultural press, 
is for "a rigid system of inspection," under a law to be enacted 
for the purpose. The fatal objection to this is, that insuperable 
practical difficulties lie in the way of its execution. It would be 
a very different matter to inspect concentrated manures from in- 
specting beef and pork, or fish and flour. For these and the like, 
a careful examination by trained senses would suffice ; but neither 
sight, touch, taste or smell afford any criterion of the value of a 
manure. If these are to be the tests, it is easy to make the worst 
appear as well as the best. 

In the case of manures, analysis is indispensable ; and this 
requires days of time, and some outlay for chemicals and apparatus 
for every sample. Unless the inspector stood by during the whole 
process of manufacturing and packing, every package must be 
inspected separately, and the cost would exceed that of the manure 
itself. And then how could grades enough be fixed to distin- 
guish between the various shades of quality, from the worst to 
the best ? 

Even analysis itself, valuable and indispensable as it is, does not 
supply all the information desirable. At least no ordinary analysis, 
requiring not more than a week of time, or costing not more than 
twenty-five dollars, can furnish full data for an estimate of value ; 
and between different manures must sometimes fail to give cor- 
r jctl ^ comparative values. 

This may be best shown by illustration. Suppose a chemist 
should take the superphosphate made by the Cumberland Bone 
Company, near Portland, (and I mention this because it is the only 



16 USES AND DEFECTS OF ANALYSIS. 

commercial fertilizer, so far as I know, which is made as that is) 
he could readily determine the amount and proportion which it 
contains of soluble and of insoluble phosphoric acid, and of am- 
monia, and also whether the latter be ready formed or is yet to be 
formed in the soil by changes to take place in nitrogenous matter 
contained in it, but he cannot so readily determine the source from 
whence that portion of phosphoric acid which he calls insoluble is 
derived, nor can he readily determine the degree of ease with which 
plants could appropriate it to their use. The chemist terms a por- 
tion insoluble because it does not dissolve at once in pure water, 
which is the solvent he employs for this purpose ; yet if its pres- 
ence is due to pure, finely ground, raw bone, used in its manufac- 
ture, as it is in the article I have named, it is wholly available to 
the needs of the plants after being in the soil for a month or two, 
and fully as fast as they require it ; for, although not soluble in 
pure water, it is gradually soluble in rain water, which always con- 
tains some carbonic acid. 

Suppose now another superphosphate is submitted to his analysis 
which is made from a mineral or fossil phosphate, and which by his 
process shows the same constituents in the same quantities and 
proportions as the first. Most people would say at once, it must 
have the same value ; and so it would so far as the soluble phos- 
phoric acid is concerned, for this would act with the same prompt- 
ness and efficiency whatever its source might be, but it would be 
very different with that portion which he calls insoluble. This is 
dissolved with ease in the powerful acids which the chemist 
employs, and so he knows it is there contained, and he sets down 
its [uantity with precision and accuracy, but it is no more soluble 
in rain water, nor of any more use to the plants than is the potash 
which is contained in many rocks. 

We may pulverize feldspar, or granite, of which there are mil- 
lions of tons all about us. Both contain potash in considerable 
quantity ; but the ground rocks would not help plants grow as 
ashes would, and why ? Because in one case it exists in a really 



SALE BY GUARANTIED ANALYSIS. 



17 



insoluble condition and not available to the plants, while from 
wood ashes the plants can get it as fast as they need it. The differ- 
ence in the effect of two such superphosphates as I have described, 
provided they contained not less than three or four per cent, of 
soluble phosphoric acid, might not be noticeable upon the crops 
during the first year, or at least not until near harvest time, but 
either at the harvest, or in the second and subsequent years, it 
would be very marked. 

Take another illustration. Suppose a sample of pure, finely 
ground raw bone be sent to the chemist for analysis. He will 
report about 23 per cent, insoluble phosphoric acid in its earthy 
portion, and in its animal matter, nitrogen equal to about 5 per 
cent, of ammonia, and he says truly. Now let him analyse a 
mixture of ground apatite (mineral phosphate) and leather chips. 
He finds the same constituents as in the bone and in as large 
amounts; yet the latter will have about the same effect on crops 
as so much gravel, and would be about as worthless, while pure 
fine bone dust everywhere readily brings a price nearly equal to 
that of good superphosphate. The reason is simply this, that the 
bone, if fine enough, gives to the plants what they want, nearly as 
fast as they require it, while the phosphate of the mineral is in- 
soluble in reality as well as nominally, and the leather, unlike most 
animal substances, resists decomposition and refuses to yield its 
nitrogen as ammonia. This is an extreme case, not likely to occur 
frequently, and cited to illustrate the point in hand ; but in larger 
or less degree there is usually a difference between intrinsic value 
and that indicated by analyses made in the usual methods. But 
notwithstanding the imperfections of analysis, it is the only availa- 
ble method, and is abundantly sufiBcient to drive out the great 
bulk of trashy matters so persistently urged upon farmers. 

In Great Britain the usual method has come to be, to buy by 
guarantied analysis. That is, you buy an article warranted to 
contain a stated amount of soluble and insoluble phosphate, ammo- 
2 



18 SECURITIES AGAINST FRAUD. 

nia, &c., and if it fails to give satisfaction, you cause a sample to 
be analyzed, and if it be found to contain less than the guarantied 
amount, recover damages of the vendor. 

What I would like to see is, a law compelling every manufac- 
turer to affix a label stating the contents of its more valuable 
constituents, with provisions for recovering a fixed and sufficient 
sum for every pound which might be found deficient therein.* 

There is another method of obtaining a fair degree of security 
against fraud, which is to buy of honest manufacturers and deal- 
ers ; and if you cannot be sure of finding such as possess true 
integrity of character, connected with sufficient intelligence, you 
can find those who have invested more of reputation and more of 
capital than they are willing to put in jeopardy by fraudulent 
dealings. Such men cannot afford to cheat. They have under- 
standing enough to enable them to comprehend and act upon the 
low grade commercial truth contained in the adage that " Honesty 
is the best policy." 

Another hint may be of service. When you see a quack nos- 
trum, or anything else, extensively advertised, and pushed off by 
agents at large expense, does not the idea suggest itself, both that 
the article brings a large profit, and also that it so far lacks real 
merit as to need a special fertilizer in order to bring up continuous 
crops of customers ? It is very well to advertise a new article 
sufficiently to bring it to notice, but after that it should find buy- 
ers on its merits, without excessive expenditure for either adver- 
tising or agents. It does not require much of that sort of effort 
to sell St. Louis flour or Portland kerosene, or some other manu- 
factures which might be named. 

I am aware that it is very common to hear observations implying 
that frauds abound with commercial fertilizers, beyond any other 
branch of trade. I doubt if this is the case. When you go to the 

* Such a law was enacted at the session of 1869 by the Legislature of Maine, and 
will doubtless prove of great service. 



GROWTH OF THE TRADE. 19 

druggist to get powdered rhubarb, or ipecac, or a bottle of wine or 
brandy, for a sick member of your family, do you always get that 
which is pure ? When you go to the grocers' for pepper, or ginger, 
or soap, or cream of tartar, do you never get anything but what 
3'ou ask for ? Is all which is sold for roasted, ground coflee quite 
innocent of peas and rye ? When you buy a coat, does it never 
contain any more shoddy than is set down in the bill ? 

There is one single fact bearing on the proportion of fraud to 
fair dealing, in the sale of commercial fertilizers, which comes to 
my mind with the force of mathematical demonstration. It is 
the steady and rapid growth of the manufacture and sale, — from 
nothing to great magnitude, — within a term of less than thirty 
years. It was about 1840 when Peruvian guano was first imported 
for agricultural uses. Veiy nearly at the same time the value of 
superphosphate, i. e. of a true soluble phosphate, was jfirst recog- 
nized. The introduction of both was slow during the earlier years 
following, but latterly it has been more rapid. What amount is 
now sold annually I cannot state ; but a few facts can be given bear- 
ing on the subject. In 1839, the first consignment of Peruvian 
guano arrived in England. It consisted of thirty bags. The first 
cargo arrived in England in 1841. About a dozen years later the 
sales amounted to upwards of £1,000,000 annually. 

One of the most interesting papers relative to commercial fer- 
tilizers which has come to my notice, is a chapter devoted to the 
"Industry of Manures," in the Chemical Report of Dr. HoflTman, 
of the International Exhibition held at the (Sydenham) Crystal 
Palace in 1864. It is there stated, that the amount of superphos- 
phate mixed daily at the establishment of Mr. Lawes (one of the 
earliest manufacturers, as well as one of the most successful, and 
who deserves the gratitude of every farmer for his untiring labors 
and liberal expenditures in aid of progress in agriculture), was 
one hundred tons, and his yearly product was from eighteen thou- 
sand to twenty thousand tons ; and he estimates the amount made 
at that time in England to be from one hundred and fifty thousand 



20 WHAT THIS GROWTH PROVES. 

to two hundred thousand tons annually. A statement more recently 
made, and believed to be correct, is, that the present amount 
exceeds two hundred and fifty thousand tons annually. ■ 

The introduction of commercial manures into use in the United 
States was later and slower than in Great Britain, and their employ- 
ment is chiefly limited to a moderate distance from the seaboard. 
Yet, it is believed that the annual consumption of superphosphate 
now reaches one hundred thousand tons yearly, and is both steadily 
and rapidly increasing-. 

Now consider that the trade in commercial manures has grown 
to its present magnitude under the lyafronage of farmers alone — that 
these large amounts ai^e bought and used and paid for by a class of 
men who are habitually cautious about introducing new ways into 
their practice, averse to parting with money except for "value 
received," and are as capable as any other class of judging whether 
they get money's worth for money. I do not say that a farmer 
may not be cheated as easily as another man,— ;/br once, — but to 
believe that farmers, as a class, for a series of years will continue 
to pay out money in sums larger and larger every year, for what 
does not give satisfaction, I can no more believe, than that five and 
five are equal to forty. Do not the facts rather prove, that so much 
as has been skilfully and honestly manufactured, must have been 
very good, and very profitable at the price it bore ? IIow else, by 
any possibility, could the trade be sustained, and exhibit a steady 
growth under the accumulated odium of all the frauds connected 
with it ? 

Fravid is not the only reason why commercial manures sometimes 
fail to produce the results anticipated. Ignorance has something 
to do with it. I have been witness to a degree of ignorance on the 
part of a manufacturer who advertises and puffs his wares loudly 
and persistently, which, if it had only been related to me I should 
have been slow to believe, except upon testimony impossible to 
discredit. And there is more or less, not very unfrequently, of 
mismanagement in their application and use — and let me say here, 



PROPER METHOD OF USE. 21 

that ample experience has shown that the best metliod of using 
either Peruvian guano, or superphosphate, or fish guano, is not to 
put the whole amount used in hills, as is most often done, but to 
compost two-thirds or three-fourths of what is to be applied with 
barnyard manure, if any of this is also to be applied, and then to 
spread and harrow it in, applying only the remainder in the hills. 
If no other substance is to be applied to the land, then let the two 
thirds or three-fourths be spread and harrowed in, and only enough 
put in the hills to give a good start to the j^lanls, and let this little he 
spread in the hill, and not merely dropped in a small pile. It should 
be covered with a little earth, also, as well as spread, to avoid 
injury to the tender germs. To expect tender rootlets to thrive 
by pushing into a small pile of concentrated manure, such as you 
desire to buy, is as reasonable as to expect a sucking child to 
thrive on a diet of beefsteak and brandy. 

It appears to me that the general tenor of the American agri- 
cultural press is not altogether what it might be, nor that which 
is calculated to throw the truest light on the subject of commercial 
fertilizers. Instead of giving the results of critical, impartial and 
thorough investigation, thereby imparting real instruction, we 
get m'ore of simple reflection of current opinion. And the ex- 
pression of that opinion comes mostly from those who are, from 
any cause, disappointed in their use. Successful instances are 
sometimes given ; but the great mass of those contented with their 
purchases and results, are also contented to pocket their gains and to 
continue to buy without troubling editors or the public with narra- 
tives of their opinions or their operations. 

We have, also, scattered through the columns of agricultural 
newspapers, a good deal of well meant, but I think injudicious 
advice addressed to farmers. I refer now chiefly to the advice, 
so common, for farmers to prepare their own superphosphate, in 
place of buying it. They direct the farmer to take a given amount 
of bone dust, and add so much oil of vitriol, and so much water, 
and perhaps, also, some other substances to "extend" it or to 



22 INJUDICIOUS ADVICE. 



make it bulkier or drier. To show that this is injudicious advice, 
it will suffice to state a few facts. In the first place, the farmer 
must buy his bone dust. He cannot make it. With considerable 
labor he may break them up somewhat ; but this will not suffice 
for this purpose. They should be made as fine as common saw- 
dust ; — and if he goes to buy, and can find such as is pure, he has 
to pay as much for it as if he bought it already made into super- 
phosphate ; and he will also be likelj'' to learn that the adulleration 
of hone dust is quite as great as that of superphosphate ; clam shells, 
oyster shells, and the turnings of vegetable ivory, and other trash 
being not unfrequently mixed with it. Then he must buy his oil 
of vitriol at retail, and pay more for it than the man who buys in 
large quantities, or who manufactures it for his own use. On the 
whole, he will find that, even counting out all imperfections in his 
product, arising from lack of practical skill, or chemical knowledge, 
and also any accidental loss or damage from breaking carboys, or 
spilling a powerfull}^ corrosive liquid upon his clothes or his person, 
he is still working as really at a disadvantage as if he attempted to 
do his own paper making by grinding rags to pulp, and working this 
into sheets by hand labor, as was done years ago ; or by inducing 
his wife to spin and weave cotton for the sheets and shirts of the 
family, instead of exchanging his farm products for factory made 
goods. 

Sufficient evidence of this is found in the fact that although 
farmers are sometimes induced to try the experiment for once, it 
is very rare for any to repeat it a second time. One dose of this 
sort of experience, (so far as my observation has extended) suffices 
for a cure in nineteen cases out of twenty. 

If authority be wanted, I might quote from a lecture delivered 
in Bath, (England,) by the well known Prof. Voelcker. He said : 
" I do not recommend the system of home-made superphosphates. 
For some time we made our own at the Agricultural College Farm 
at Cirencester ; but taking the quantity of soluble phosphate 
produced, we found we could not make it so cheap as it could be 



MORE CHEAPLY BOUGHT THAN MADE. 



23 



bought. There is a decided advantage in buying superphosphate. 
All that was required was to take care that what they bought was 
a good sample. It is a manure which can be produced at a cost 
.varying from £5 to £12 per ton. (That is, from $25 to $60 per 
ton, gold.) It was desirable, therefore, that the farmer got the 
full value for his money." Again, in the same lecture, Dr. 
Voelcker says : "I lay particular stress on the term intelligent 
manufaciurer , because I believe it to be a hazardous undertaking 
for the farmer to prepare his own superphosphate, considerable 
knowledge being required, together with practical acquaintance 
with the method, and proper appliances." 

There is some editorial advice bestowed upon farmers to wliich 
I know not what epithet to apply. It seems impossible to charge 
it to ignorance, or to a willingness to deceive ; — judicious, we 
cannot call it, injudicious, is not suflSciently descriptive. Let 
me read you a sample of what is now referred to. It is from "The 
Boston Journal of Chemistry," " Devoted to Chemistry as applied 
to Medicine, Agriculture and the Arts. Edited by Jas. R. Nich- 
ols, M. D." The number for April 1, 1868. It appears in the 
editorial column, in leaded type, and with every appearance of 
being from the pen of the editor. It reads as follows : 

" SupERPnospHATES. — Several of our agricultural friends have written to us, asking 
which ^mrf of " superphosphate " we would recommend them to purchase. Certainly 
there ought to be only one kind of superphosphate, and that a genuine superphosphate 
of lime, containing at least ten per cent, of soluble phosphoric acid, and an equal (juan- 
tity of insoluble, in addition to the phosphate of lime. We do not know of any br;uid 
we can recommend as being properly manufactured, genuine superphosphate of lime. 
If there is any in the market, we have not been able to find it, and we have searched 
diligently. As the inquiries are presented, we can make no answer. If the questions 
should assume another form — " What compounds, composts, or mixtures, such as are 
put up in barrels, and labelled 'superphosphate,' we would recommend," we should 
still be unable to reply; as we have found these mixtures to vary so exceedingly in 
fertilizing value, little reliance can be placed upon them. In color, some are quite 
dark; others gray, or light yellow. In orfor, one is like fish ofFal, another like carrion; 
others have a kind of sulphurous smell. The color is due to an admixture of charcoal, 
or bone-coal, or sugar refiners' waste, in varying quantities. As regards the origin of 



24 EDITORIAL-INSTRUCTION ? 



the differing odors, we suppose, when the manufacturers run short of cheap fish pomace, 
they substitute dead cats and dogs, or other decomposing flesh. As a rule, that "super- 
phosphate" which has the darkest color and the most abominable smell, sells the best, 
as it is regarded the " strongest." Manufacturers understand this, and take advantage 
of it. True, genuine " superphosphate " is almost colorless, and has but a faint acid 
smell, not in the least unpleasant. To manufacture such, all that is required is to dis- 
solve fine bone-dust in oil of vitriol, 150 pounds of the former to 80 of the latter, with 
the addition of sufficient water to form an intimate and perfect mixture. In the home 
manufacture of this fertilizer, 60 pounds of acid, with 150 of fine bone may be em- 
ployed, as it is better to avoid the risk of any free acid remaining in the rai.\ture after 
the action is over. We have given, in a former number of the Journal, full directions 
for making superphosphate upon the farm, farmers can and should make their own 
superphosphate." 

I have not the honor of a personal acquaintance with the writer 
of this article, but it is due to say, that Dr. Nichols is understood 
to enjoy the reputation of being a very estimable gentleman, a 
practical and scientific chemist, and farmer also, and occupies a 
position at the head of an establishment for the manufacture 
and sale of chemical preparations, chiefly medicinal. It is also 
proper to say that the Journal in question has been the vehicle of 
much information and advice which was accurate, sensible, and 
efl'ective for good. 

I quote this editorial partly because it utters no uncertain 
sound, partly because its authorship secures its acceptance by 
many who would scrutinize as loud a statement if made by one 
possessing less reputation as both a chemist and an agriculturist, 
but chiefly because, appearing in a journal claiming twenty-five 
thousand readers, and having been extensively copied into agri- 
cultural and other newspapers, it obtained a very wide circulation. 
Copies were sent me last spring from various parties, with the 
inquiry what answer I had to make. But I replied to none. I 
had enough else to do, and part of it was connected with the 
manufacture of a respectable superphosphate. I felt some as 
Nehemiah did, when invited to come down from the wall he was 
building, and hold a conference on the subject. He felt that the 
wall was worth more than talk about walls ; and I thought the 



CURIOUS CHEMISTRY, 



25 



making of a good superphosphate was the best answer to the 
article. You can judge, nearly enough, what reply I would deem 
appropriate to most of its allegations, but I will remark in relation 
to the diligence of search for a good superphosphate, said to have 
been made, that I can conceive of no obstacle which need prevent 
one possessing ordinai'y locomotive powers, in the usual condition of 
the streets of Boston, in less than ten minutes' walk from the office 
of the Journal of Chemistry, from reaching several places where 
a ton or a hundred tons of good quality could be had at a fair 
price. 

It seems strange, too, that it never occurred to the Doctor that 
the "strong odor" might possibly have had another origin than 
from "dead cats and dogs." In one superphosphate extensively 
sold, a strong, garlicky smell is due to the addition of ammoniacal 
products obtained from the destructive distillation of bones in the 
manufacture of bone charcoal ; and an effective addition it is, — 
rendering it more stimulating to vegetation. In the superphos- 
phate of the Cumberland Bone Company is an addition made for 
the purpose of rendering it repellantto vermin in the soil infesting 
plants, like wire-worms, onion maggots, etc. But the chemistry of 
the article quoted, and its arithmetic, are fairly open to criticism. 
The writer says that "there ought to be only one kind of super- 
phosphate, and that a genuine superphosphate of lime, containing 
at least ten per cent, soluble pliosplioric acid, and an equal quantity of 
insoluble iti addition to the phosphate of lime." 

Ten per cent, soluble and an equal quantity of insoluble make 
twenty per cent. Bear this in mind, and then note that lower down 
he tell us how to make just this same " genuine superphosphate." 
He says " To manufaeture such all that is required is to dissolve 
fine bone dust in oil of vitriol — one hundred and fifty pounds of the 
former to eighty pounds of the latter ;" (with the addition of water, 
&c., but as the water mostly dries out again, though some is retained 
in combination, we will not count that in). The product of super- 
phosphate weighs one hundred and fifty pounds, (for the bone) plus 



26 REMARKABLE ARITHMETIC. 



, eighty pounds acid, making two hundred and thirty pounds at the 
least. Now, bones contain one half their weight of phosphate, 
(if the bone be old and hard a trifle more ; if young and soft rather 
less ; fifty per cent, is a full estimate and more than the Doctor 
himself puts it in another place.) Of this phosphate lesiS than half 
is phosphoric acid,* (about forty-six per cent.) so that, as near as 
may be, avoiding small fractions, bones contain twenty-three per 
cent, of their weight of phosphoric acid (as I stated a little while 
ago). Now, if one hundred pounds of bone contain twenty -three 
pounds of phosphoric acid, one hundred and fifty pounds contain 
thirty-four and a half pounds. If two hundred and thirty pounds 
superphosphate contain thirty-four and a half pounds phosphoric 
acid, what per cent, is thai? If my answer is right, it is jnst fifteen 
per cent., — yet he tell us " containing at least" twenty percent. 
Here is a serious falling off, but the astonishing part remains. He 
tells us "containing at least ten per cent, soluble phosphoric acid, 
and an equal quantity of insoluble, in addition to the phosphate of 
lime." Why ! every particle of the phosphate in bones, whether 
phosphate of lime or the trifle of phosphate of magnesia, has been 
used up to furnish fifteen per cent ! There is not an atom of phos- 
phoric acid in bone except in its phosphates, and yet he tells us 
twenty per cent, phosphoric acid in addition to the phosp>hate of 
lime ! 

All I have to say about this is, that if the facts are as he states, 
the case more than equals a realization of the desire oi the boy 
who wanted to "keep his pie and eat it too" — for here the pie, 
weighing only fifteen ounces before it is eaten, weighs twenty 
ounces "at least" after it is eaten. Ought such advice to be 
termed judicious — or injudicious — or what Ff 

* Known ia the new nomenclature of chemistry as phosphoric anhydride or phosphoric 
oxide (P 5) 

t Dr. Nichols seems to have been unfortunate in his arithmetical statements in con- 
nection with commercial manures on other occasions ; one instance of which may be 
named here. In a lecture before the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, given in Flint's 



ANOTHER TUNE. 2*7 



Permit me now to read a brief extract from a recent British 
periodical. It reads as follows : "The development of" the arti- 
ficial manure trade has been most remarkable ; and, whilst 
unmistakably advantageous from one point of view, we are led to 
question whether the facility with which we have been supplied 
has not led us to be careless about our own resources. The very 
materials for which we pay so heavily are too often permitted to 
ooze away into the nearest ditch and pollute our streams. Baron 
Licbig, to whom in great degree we owe our present knowledge, 
denounces this terrible waste, and warns us that the time will 
come when our reckless extravagance will bring down on us heavy 
discomfort ; and that the decay of our great country will date 
from the day when our supplies of phosphates fall short. With- 
out going quite so far, we would earnestly impress our •^•eaders 
with the importance of taking care of the manure of the farm. 
It is sad to see the ignorance that is apparent in unspouted yards, 
washed out manures, and the porter-colored horsepond. Even 
if it could be proved that the waste thus incurred can be more eco- 
nomically made up by the purchase of artificials than by the outlay 
necessary to prevent it, it would still be clear that, taking a com- 
prehensive view, and duly considering the future, our practice is 
most reprehensible." 

Here too are words of warning, and words of advice, but a new 
front is presented ; the burden is changed ; the words have 
another ring to them. Now, the trouble is, that commercial 
manures are so good and so cheap, that the imminent danger is, of 
forgetting the farm-yard \ and the appeal is, not to permit the pros- 



Report for 1866-7, page 237, we read as follows : *' A direct estimation of the nitrogen 
gave in 1000 pounds of bones, 50 pounds. * * * * Hence we find they aflford 
about 20 per cent of nitrogen in their fresh condition." The error here, in calling a 
twentieth part, 20 per cent , instead of 5 per cent., is so gross and palpable that any 
careful reader would readily detect it ; and it would pass for a slip of the pen, were it 
not that, in a book published not long subsequently, entitled " Chemistry of the Farm 
and the Sea," consisting chiefly of previously written papers, newly arranged and 
revised, we find the same error repeated in the same words, 



28 



MANUFACTURE IMPROVING, 



pect of present gains to induce forgetfulaess of the future, and of the 
needs of posterity. He talks in the strain a wise man would have 
used with the settlers in Aroostook fifteen or twenty years ago, 
or in Western New York at an early day, when he saw them cart- 
ing manures to the nearest stream, merely to be rid of them. 

Let me say here, that the trade in commercial manures seems to 
be passing through the same phases which it underwent in Great 
Britain a few years earlier. About 1855, Dr. Voelcker made the 
following statement : " If ever there was a time when the agricul- 
turist had need to exercise special caution in the purchase of 
artificial manures that time is the present, for the practice of adul- 
terating standard fertilizers, such as superphosphate, guano, &c., 
has reached an alarming extent. * * * It is but right, however, 
to menlnon that it is far from us to censure indiscriminately the 
whole class of manufacturers and dealers; for we know many 
highly respectable, fair dealing and skilled parties who well deserve 
the support and encouragement of the agriculturist, and who are 
as anxious as every right minded person to put a stop to the scan- 
dalous proceedings now and then revealed to us." 

Recently, he says in his annual report as chemist to the Royal 
Agricultural Society, " The number of analyses made for members 
in 1868 is four hundred and thirty-two, a larger number than in any 
previous year. By far the larger proportion of the class to which 
superphosphate belongs were found of good qviality, well prepared 
and worth the money at which they were oifered for sale. Of late 
years the manufacture of superphosphate has much improved, and 
notwithstanding its superior quality and intrinsic value the market- 
price has not been increased." 

It would seem, therefore, that the manufacture and sale has for 
the larger part, passed into the hands of "highly respectable, fair 
dealing and skilled parties ;" and no doubt can be entertained that 
a similar result will be reached in this country, and with greater 
rapidity than obtained in England. 

The remark is frequently made, " I don't believe that any com- 



AUXILIARIES USEFUL. 29 

mercial fertilizers are as good as barn manure, and therefore I 
will have nothing to do with them." To such my reply is, that 
the premise is admitted without the slightest hesitation, but the 
legitimacy of the conclusion is open to doubt. If you have farm- 
yard manure enough, you are the very vian to let commercial 
manures alone. But have you ? 

Suppose I was to visit the shop of a surgeon-mechanic, and after 
critically examining the artificial legs and arms and crutches and 
splints and supporters, should tell him that I thought his wares 
were vastl}'^ inferior to those of nature's providing, and that I 
would have none of them ; I submit whether he would not answer 
my objection fairly, and fully, by replying, — " I do not expect you 
to buy of me. I labor not for the whole, but for the crippled. 
There are those who are willing to avail themselves of my assist- 
ance, and to pay me for my labor." 

So it is with most of us. There are few New England farmers 
who do not have to deal with crippled land — land unable to bear the 
burdens of a successful agriculture without artificial helps — un- 
able, too, in part, because we, and our fathers before us, have 
dealt hardly by it. We have taken too much from it, and have 
given too little to it ; and the day of reckoning has come, as come 
it always will, in every case, sooner or later, where the laws of 
order are violated. It is well for us to remember that God's laws 
all take care of themselves, in due time, and equally so whether the 
laws be about theft and adultery and idolatry, or about gravitation 
and nutrition and fertilization ; and they require neither detective 
police, nor judge, nor jury, nor sheriff; they execute themselves — 
nobody dodges one of them. The man is to be pitied who confounds 
His laws with statute enactments manufactured by legislatures. 

It is our duty, and our privilege to repent, to try to make good 
the evil of our misdeeds in the past, and thus to leave our lands 
to our children better, and not worse, than we found them. And 
this brings me to the consideration of a very important point in 
the use bf commercial fertilizers, and one which is too often over- 



30 GAIN STRENGTH FROM TEMPORARY AIDS. 

looked, which is this : We all know that crutches are used with 
various intent. By the hopelessly lame they are used for tem- 
porary relief only ; but by those not incurably crippled, they are 
used with the purpose of getting well, — they are used in a v,'ay 
calculated to accomplish the end in view, in such a way as may 
enable to lay by strength, so as, by-and-by, to do without artificial 
helps. 

Such should be our intent also. Our lands are not hopelessly 
crippled. If we can but add manure enough for a limited term, to 
enable us to get good crops, and (hen use tlwse crops in a xoay ichich 
shall enable us to return to the land the means of future fertilization 
which they are capable of yielding, then we may retain and sustain 
the degree of fertility which we obtained by temporary artificial 
aids. 

We hear it often said, that special manures tend to exhaust land. 
I tell you manures never exhaust land. It is the crops, which the 
manures enable you to take from the soil, which exhaust it. If wo 
sell these off from the farm, returning nothing in their place, the 
land is, sure enough, in a fair way to run down ; and the more it 
produces, after this fashion, the faster it will run down. But if 
we will deal honestly with it, first converting the crops into meat 
and milk and wool, and manure, and then save the manure and 
apply it, thus returning a fair proportion of what we have taken 
from the soil, we may have, for our own use, or to sell, all which 
has been contributed to the crops from the atmosphere and from 
the dews and rains of heaven, and besides this, a portion also of 
the ash constituents of the plants grown, these being annually 
liberated from the hidden, dormant resources of the soil, through 
the agencies of nature and of cultivation. And this will suffice to 
support us handsomely, and such practice can be Jcept up, with in- 
creasing fertility, as long as the world stands. 



Ml. 



